Live Out Loud

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I as an artist will answer you:  I am here to live out loud."

Emile Zola

Paul Cezanne, Paul Alexis reading to Emile Zola
Sao Paulo Museum of Art

When I read the above quotation this morning it struck a chord with me.  I have no clue as to the context of the sentence, but it seems to me just taking it at face value is the way I want to live...out loud.  I am too often quietly nothing...about what is important.

I chewed on those words while in the shower, while dressing and on my drive into school.  You might say those letters formed into those words, and the words grouped together in such a way made an impact.   I wanted, no I needed to do something with it.

All week this quiet friendly lion has adorned the chalkboard in my classroom reminding the children we are working on the letter "L".  When I got to school this morning, after putting away my things, plugging in the coffee pot and grabbing the early morning notebook, I stood for a moment and looked at this sweet face.   I took out my eraser and with but little hesitation erased the genial guy.  I found a brand new piece of chalk and replaced him with a rather noisy looking fellow.

As my children arrived I instructed them to take out puzzles and books...no toys today.   I told them I had a surprise, but we would wait until the last child arrived.  They were excited and kept asking me to whisper the surprise.  I told them we would wait, but it had something to do with the new lion visiting our room.

When everyone was accounted for we had our usual circle time.  I ask them to look around the room and tell me its size.  I ask,  "is it little or big."  Most answered little.  I agreed.  I continued, "Do I usually allow you to yell or do I ask you talk quietly?"  There were several answers, my favorite being, "Miss Bonnie you say use your inside voice".  (Oh my they do listen to me! )Yes those are almost my exact words.  Our room is small.  When everyone starts yelling it escalates, the noise bounces around the room until no one can hear anything.

I told them we were taking a field trip.  We were traveling into the jungle.  "We are going to take the morning and live loudly.  We are going to be heard".  We lined up and headed out to the empty playground.  We ran and we roared (yes I ran and roared as well), then we roared some more and we laughed until I thought we might fall down.  No one stood still.  The children chased me and I chased them.  I roared until my throat was stinging.  Finally one child said, "Miss Bonnie I'm runned and roared out."  So we lined up for one last run, and roared down the length of the playground and back inside.

Once inside I told them it was now time to use our inside voices again, but to remember even the quietest whisper could be as loud as a lions roar when you have something that needs to be said.

*******

Now, I know Mr. Zola's words were not meant to be taken quite so literally, but it was a grand place to begin.  And, I know this morning was nothing more than a fun time outside running and screaming, and watching their teacher be silly,  for the children.   Yet, it is in play that we first find our voice.

Use your talents...find your medium...take out a paint brush, pen and paper, dance or sing to make your voice heard, stir things up and live loudly.  When you make noise you are sure to be judged.  Don't let it stop you, make no excuses;  you will know you are being heard.  Even silence can sometimes make the loudest impact.

Nothing is just that.....nothing.

Have a wonderfully loud weekend.....even if in a whisper.